Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-08-25
TABOR'S THREE MINES.
FROM FLOODING sToReKEEPER TO
SUCCESSFUL sPEcULAToR.

AT lenGI0 came L0e TeallZallO1 OF LQe car
Donate wealth hidden in these hills. Where
Orc had been established in 1860 Leadville
was laid out in 1878 Even in this period Of
new excitement Tabors head was not turned
from his routine of storekeeping. His trade
doomed naturally with the growth Of the
camp, which added TO its population as many
as 500 day during the big rush Lawyers,
gamblers, everybody fiocked to the hills and
laid out claims, and strained their backs at
the pick and windlass. Tabor was not so
carried away. He stood behind the counter
and weighed out the bacon and the meal
GHe was a steady going-you might say
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS." is the description
given BY the pioneers "That was all there
was to him. Nobody ever thought Of him as
mining man.
Occasionally the impecunious prospector
came to Tabor with proposition for grub
stake The storekeeper usually fell in with
the suggestion, and weighed the supplies.
The miner shouldered the pack and went over
the hill And Tabor entered up SO many
pounds Of bacon and so many pounds of -four
to profit and loss How many miners Tabor
has sgrub staked" in his time Leadville does
not pretend to say. Probably the number is
well along in the hundreds. II anything
came of this Hgrub stalking" for nearly twenty
years no record has been kept of the fact.
But Tabor accumulated few thousands and
q good name during this plodding period Of
his life No i'll word is spoken of him as q
storekeeper.
One day a miner named Rische made the
usual credit arrangement with Tabor for
sgrub,r walked up the hill as 50 many others
had done before him, and went to work. He
came down town of evenings, and got tailor
interested with him in the prospect The
tailor was George Hook, who, after listening
to Rische's speculations about the claim,
chucked his goose under the table, followed
the miner up the hill, and went to work at the
shaft For some time Tabor would have re-
signed that @grub stake" claim for fifty cents
on the dollar, and George Hook secretly re-
GREETED the day he left the bench to become a
mining man.
But the time came when two OF the part
ners sold out their thirds for 100000 apiece,
while Tabor, true to his character for hang
ing on, stayed in and saw that claim yield
$1,000 day, half of which he put in his pocket
as the interest on his grub stake" principal.
This is the romance of Little Pittsburg.
Tabor, the plodding se9rekeeper, became an
other man entirely. He and Jerome B.
Chaffee held on to Little Pittsburg until it
yielded 5000 day. Then they stocked it.
One day when they had just received returns
from the latest shipment to the smelter and
were sitting in the back room of the bank,
Tabor said to Chaffee: "We'll stock this mine
for s10,OOO,0O0."
HOh, no." protested Chaffee, @that's too
much. Make it s., ,0OO, 900, or something rea-
sonable like that"
~Cdme to think of it, though" said Tabor,
paying no attention TO the interruption, II
believe we'll make it $4,000, ,OO0"
And they did The 2O0, 600 shares at 500
par value were issued, and climbed until
they reached SS5, representing a capital of
$1,000, 600. And then Tabor showed that be-
sides possessing capacity for holding on, he
knew when to let CO. Telling people plainly
that while Little Pittsburg was great mine,
he didn't believe it was a fair equivalent for
that valuation, be let go of his stock There
were plenty Of takers, for the reports made
by experts could not have been more glowing
If the whole Fryer hill was of solid silver
Little Pittsburg was a grand producer for
awhile, and has yielded $1,000 900, just 100
per cent on the investment represented by
the stock at S95 share. But the date of the
last dividend is ominous-"March, 1880"
In four months Tabor made out of Little
Pittsburg 8. .300,0O But his luck didn't
stop there. There used to be character in
Leadville known as Chicken Bill His
mother knew him as William Lowell
Chicken Bill took up claim on Fryer hill
and worked it industriously for some weeks
But after the shaft got down to such depth
that it was quite tiresome to haul the dirt up
in bucket, he became disguised. In the
language Of Leadville, 'ihe hadn't smell Of
lafk a,,I
down the hill As he came to George Fryer's
New Discovery mine his eyes fell on some
very good ore, which had just been taken
out Bill looked around That was be-
fore the days of watchmen at the
dumps and when all Leadville was sup
posedito be honest Bill gathered up a lot of
ore, what he could carry comfortably, walked
back to his shaft, and threw the chunks in.
Then he went down town in a very good
humor. The next morning bright and early
be was down his shaft pounding away among
the rocks. About noon he went down town
and told Tabor and others that he had struck
ltn at last. Tabor, flushed with his Little
Pittsburg experience, was then on the lookout
for anything and everything, and he sent
man up to see what Chicken Bill had got
The investigator came back and reported
several inches of nice looking ore in sight"
Tabor asked bill what be wanted for his find,
and Bill said he owed 500 for @grub," which
MUST be wiped out, and on top Of that he
ranted $50 for spending money. Tabor paid
e150 and took possession. He sank that salted
shaft five feet from where Bill had stopped and
struck ore that yielded over 81, 100000
This is the romance of the discovery Of
Chrysolite. Chicken Bill couldn't stand it.
Prosperity by proxy was too much for him.
He told the whole story on himself. Chicken
Bills claim and those of the Chrysolite Min
ing company consolidated with it have
yielded s., ,S50, 900, but no dividends have been
paid since December, 1884.
The Matchless was another illustration of
Tabor's wonderful luck. Tim Foley and his
partners, Wilgus and the others, worked this
claim until they had discovered some ore and
sold out to Tabor for s112,OOO They went
around Leadvills shaking hands and receiv-
ing congratulations on having @put it up on
the old man this timen But Tabor held the
property and kept on with development
work When he had taken out 81 ,0OO, 900,
sentiment began to change decidedly as to the
wisdom of the investment. But the produc-
tion kept right up to S2,000,00O. Then
people began to wonder why Tabor didn't
stock the mine and unload. Still be held on.
The Matchless last year passed the $3000,000
point, and today 1t is still producing. Tabor
Is the sole owner. He has never parted with
q dollars interest in the property. He enjoys
the distinction of being the only Leadville
man who has bought big mine and devel-
oped it, and held on TO it without forming a
company or taking in a partner. Matchless
is the only prominent mine in the district the
title to which rests in single name.
I'll suppression hes gone out that Tabor is
broken in fortune. He has lost heavily in his
numerous ventures, but there are few men
in Leadville who wouldn't trade even today
for what Tabor has got left "Huhl" one of
them said, ~ wish / was as near broke as
Tabor isn-Globe- Democrat.
An Old Mans Wit.
"Women don't always have their wits
about them," said an elderly gentleman the
other morning "A lady friend of mine came
into my Office with her little girl Of 5. The